Percy Jackson: The Untold Story
by velocity58
Summary: When two non-greek monsters, Jimmy and Joanna, need materiel for their History project, they travel back in time to 2007 to do a documentary about Percy Jackson and his friends. Everything is going well until they accidentally mess up the time stream. Now they must go on a dangerous quest and finish their project, or risk losing everything! (Chaos in Chapter 5) (Reviews Please!)
1. Remember that time when

**Before I begin, I just want to make a few things clear. Jimmy and Joanna are monsters, but they are not like the ones from Percy Jackson. They can still turn into dust if killed by a weapon made from Celestial Bronze except for Jimmy, who is half human. Also, the events of "Titan's Curse," happened in real life in my story. Anyway, just wanted to put that out there. Enjoy!**

Jimmy

The assignment was simple: make a short film about an event that happened involving ancient Greece. Sounds fun and simple, right? Here's the problem.

First, Joanna and I didn't have any money to make anything good. Second, we didn't have enough actors. Sure, we could do a two-person video, but Joanna kept saying how it wouldn't be good enough and she has very high standards. Last but not least, we didn't have a good enough camera. All we had was our "Lends," a camera disguised as a scouter from "Dragon Ball Z," but it wasn't exactly made to shoot movies. Also, it was two years old and was a little beat up.

Joanna and I were in my dorm room one day trying to think of what we could do for the project. Joanna was lying on the bed and I was sitting at my desk with my head down.

"Maybe we could…" I said. "No, no."

"What if…" Joanna began. "No, not enough actors."

We stayed there for another few minutes, pondering what to do next, when Joanna slammed her fist onto my nightstand.

"You know what? Screw it!" She shouted, getting up. "It's hopeless! The assignment is due in a day and we haven't even gotten past square one!"

"Well we just need to think outside the box." I said, turning to Joanna.

"We've been thinking outside the box for three hours! There's no way we can come up with an idea in time."

That's when I thought of something… time…

"Wait a minute… in time… time… time travel, of course!" I stood up out of pure excitement. "We could travel back in time to when a famous event happened, like… um…" That's when I saw a copy of the book, "Percy Jackson: Titan's Curse," on my bookshelf. I ran to it, pulled it out, and showed it to Joanna.

"This! We could go back in time to 2007 and view the events from this book!"

Joanna's frown quickly turned into a smile as she grabbed my shoulders. "Yes!" She said. "It could be a documentary of what happened! We'll ace History class for sure!"

X

"So… you two want to time travel, eh?" Ginger asked, crossing her arms and smiling.

Ginger was one of my friends who went to Joanna and I's high school. I knew she had already finished her project with her best friend, Kasi, so she had more than enough time to send us to 2007. How can she do this, you ask? It's simple… she's a witch.

"Yeah." I replied. "We have this amazing idea for the project, plus we need more time to finalize everything."

"Seven years of it?"

"No. We just need you to send us back, and after about a month we should have it done, so just send us back after that."

Ginger looked at us for a minute. She looked from me to Joanna, then back to me again. "You two aren't kidding, are you?" She asked being serious for once. "You realize how much trouble you could get in? Even I wouldn't do this."

This was a rarity. Ginger was always the type of person that always joked around no matter what, but for her to act serious… this was something else.

"We promise we won't screw anything too serious up, okay?" Joanna said, rolling her eyes.

"Promise on the river Styx?"

"Ginger!"

"Fine. Just give me a minute." She said, jokingly.

Ginger walked over to her bookshelf and took out one of her spell books titled, "The Idiot's Guide to Magic: Volume 2." Ginger was good at magic, believe me, but she specialized in conjuring. Anything else required a little more work. She'd probably end up sending us to 2007, but with each other's heads or something, but at this point, I'd take the chance. Besides, I've been through much worse than that.

Ginger opened the book and flipped through the pages until she found the index. Once she found it, she found the page the spell was on and turned to it.

"Ah, here it is." She turned to us and readied her wand. "You two ready?"

Previous to the visit, we had brought along a few important items: the "Lends," sunglasses to hide Joanna's blood red eyes, some heavy jackets and jeans, and Joanna's scythe, packed into a disc she keeps on her back.

"Ready as we'll ever be." Joanna said, crossing her arms. "Now can you please cast the spell?"

"Sure! But this is the first time I've ever done it."

"Wait, what?"

"Faciamus, iterum est timewarp!" Ginger chanted as she pointed her wand at Joanna and I.

In an instant, we were enveloped in a bright, holographic, yellow clock. The hands of the clock moved counter clockwise very fast and vanished. Once it did, Joanna and I weren't in Ginger's dorm anymore.

X

Joanna and I appeared in front of a large building surrounded by a snowy field on a cliff overlooking a large basin of water. The building itself was about three stories tall with old features that looked worn. There was no doubt that this was Westover Hall.

"Wow. Ginger actually did it." Joanna said, looking over the landscape. "Thank god she got us here in one piece."

"Yeah, witches are so O.P." I said as I put on the "Lends." "Okay, let's do this. According to the clock on this thing, they should be here in half an hour. Might as well start."

Joanna nodded and walked in front of me. I pressed a button on the "Lends" and pointed at Joanna.

"Good evening, West Coast Academy. My name is Joanna Nightingale, and with me is my partner, James McClure." I waved in front of the "Lends." "For our project, we will be shooting a documentary about Percy Jackson, the hero of the demigods. Before we start, we need to-"

"Oh! Wait!" I said, interrupting. "Maybe we can do one of those things where you wave to yourself while the video goes on."

"Jimmy! What the Dante? That's gonna be on the video."

"Don't worry, we can just edit it out later." I reassured her.

"Oh, and do you know an editor?"

"Well, I could find one."

"You know what? Give me the camera." Joanna said, trying to grab the camera. Suddenly, a struggle followed. She tried to grab the camera while I tried to keep it away from her.

"Give me the camera!"

"Stop! You're gonna break it!"

"I said give it!"

Just then, the sound of a car pulling up to the driveway was heard. Joanna and I stopped fighting and looked in the direction of the noise.

"What was that?" I asked.

We ran to the corner of the big house and looked around the corner. In the driveway was a blue car driving away and walking away from it was Percy, Anabeth, and Thalia.

Joanna's eyes widened. "What the? I thought you said they'd be here in half an hour."

I checked the "Lends'" clock feature. "They were. Ginger must have sent us back too early."

"Damnit. We'll do the intro later, come on." Joanna said, leading me out of the corner as the blue car drove out of sight. By now, Percy and his friends were already inside, so we could move behind them freely. Joanna put on her sunglasses to hide her eyes as she opened the large, wooden door.

As soon as she opened it, she ducked back out of sight.

"Get down." She whispered loudly. "They're talking to that manticore guy."

"That's the guy with the multi-colored eyes and the French accent, right?" I asked.

"Yeah." Joanna said, peeking through the crack of the door.

"Nice." I said as I looked through the crack as well. I pressed the record button on the "Lends" and it recorded the scene just as Grover met everyone else. While the scene was going on, I decided to talk to Joanna for a while.

"By the way, how goes the job hunt?" I asked.

Joanna shrugged. "Eh, sucks. Just lost my job at KFC."

"Jesus, that's like… what? Seven? In a month?"

"Yeah, fast food's not really my style."

"Still, you're getting more jobs than most Americans find in a year."

"Yeah, humans are so picky." She noticed I had the "Lends" on record again. "For Chromius' sake, stop talking over the tape."

"Actually, this one you're going to be talking over."

Joanna rolled her eyes and looked back through the crack. "Okay, they're gone."

Joanna opened the door and we stepped inside. The hall was lined with multiple weapons from almost every time period from broadswords to machineguns. The hall itself looked like something out of a vampire movie, gothic features and all.

"Jesus, it's like an armory in here." I said, observing the material.

Joanna looked through the other hallways, and then returned to me. "Okay, this seems like a good place. Point the camera at me."

I did as she asked and she began talking.

"I am standing at where it all began. Percy Jackson has just walked through these halls on his way to rescue Nico and Bianca DeAngelo, unaware of their true fate. Meanwhile, the maniacal, Dr. Thorn is plotting to capture Nico and Bianca to use for the titan, Kronos and his army, although why they chose kids to fight in a war, I don't know."

"It's because of the-" I began.

"I know why they're so young, okay?" Joanna shouted. "I was saying that to be funny."

"Nice job at that, by the way."

"Oh shut up."

"Hey! You two!" Called a voice from down the hall.

We turned to see an angry Dr. Thorn walking toward us. He was a tallish man with eyes that were blue and brown with a curly mustache and a heavy French accent.

"Just what do you two sink you are doing?" He asked sounding French.

Joanna and I hadn't prepared for this. We had no idea we would even interact with people such as him. Just for doing this, I was breaking at least three different laws. I would have to deal with rules later. For now, I had to improvise.

"Oh, us?" I asked as Joanna quickly put on her sunglasses. I could still see her eyes, but it wasn't obvious that they were red. "We're chaperones for the dance."

Dr. Thorn looked at us for a minute like we were crazy. He could have been reading our energy levels since he was a monster too, but we had to stay silent and let fate play its course.

"Really?" He asked. "Aren't you a little young to be chaperones?"

"Yes. Yes we are." I said as Joanna laughed.

Dr. Thorn looked at Joanna with a stern look. "What is so funny, girl?"

"Oh, nothing." Joanna said as she barely contained her laughter.

"Nosing?" Dr. Thorn asked. "It better be nosing. Because if it is not nosing, zat would be very bad."

Suddenly, Joanna burst out laughing. Her laughter rang throughout the halls and echoed.

"He… he said "zat!'" She said, cracking up. "That's so awesome!"

I looked from Joanna to Dr. Thorn, who looked like he was about to explode from anger.

"How dare you insult me!" He shouted. "I am an esteemed member of zis academy and you vill treat me as such!"

"I am so sorry about my friend." I said, stepping in. "It's just that she's never seen a French guy before, and your accent—"

"ENOUGH!" He shouted making Joanna stop laughing. "I don't know who you two are, but I am calling the police!"

As soon as he mentioned the authorities, Joanna hit Dr. Thorn on the side of his neck. He cringed a little, and then fell to the ground, limp.

I stared at the vice principal in awe and fear. "What did you do that for? We could have easily-"

"You wanna pass History, or not?" Joanna asked as she jabbed a finger into my chest. I could tell that she was scared too, but was trying to cover up her emotions with anger. I decided not to linger and nodded.

We ran out of the main hall as fast as we could and toward the gymnasium.

X

Joanna and I had reached the gymnasium and were welcomed by the typical middle school dance: dim lights, kids dancing, and of course…

"Jessy McCartney?" Joanna complained. "What is this? 2004?"

"What? It's kinda catchy."

Joanna hit me up side the head.

"Ow! Kidding!"

I looked through the dance floor as the song changed and spotted Percy and Anabeth dancing with each other.

"Okay, there they are." I said pointing to them.

Joanna looked in that direction and nodded. "Wait, where are the other two?"

"Who?"

"Grover and Thalia. They should be here too." Joanna said as she continued to scan the area. Soon, she saw them running over to Percy and Anabeth as if they were scared of something. "Oh, wait. There they are."

We watched as they reached Percy and Anabeth. They looked like they had just spotted Dr. Thorn or something, but to my surprise, Percy looked toward us instead.

My heart stopped for a moment when something came to mind. "Crap… you think they know we're here?"

"If they do, they won't do anything about it. They have more important things to be worrying about."

"Joanna, I'm pretty sure they'd be worried of two additional monsters running around."

Joanna looked at me and smiled. "Please. They're only here to save Bianca and Nico from Dr. Tho-" Joanna's smile faded when she looked in Nico and Bianca's direction. "Where'd they go?"

I looked at where Nico and Bianca were sitting on the bleachers, but they were nowhere to be found. Also, the doors on the opposite end of the gym were left wide open.

"Oh, Percy must have-" That's when I saw Percy still in the middle of the dance floor talking to his friends. He had not noticed Nico and Bianca being kidnapped. At this point, I was sure they knew about us, because Percy was supposed to run after Dr. Thorn and them.

We had screwed up the timeline.

"Oh no." I said as Joanna and I ran out through the door behind us. "Come on! We can't let him get away!"

I ran ahead of Joanna as I sprinted down the hall. I could see the door to the main hall, but I didn't slow down. As soon as it was in range, I leapt into the air and kicked the door making it shatter into a thousand shards. I landed in the middle of the main hall, crouched on the ground. Almost immediately after that, Joanna walked through the doorframe with her scythe out.

"You know you could have just opened that, right?"

I shrugged. "Eh, looked cool."

I looked over at the main door in front of the main hall. Nico and Bianca were there, huddled against it and looking at us as if we were monsters. Well… we were monsters, but you know what I mean.

I put my hands up, showing I was unarmed and slowly walked toward them.

"Hey, it's okay. We're friends. You're going to be okay."

Their emotion didn't change. They were still shivering.

"My name is Jimmy and this is Joanna. Don't worry, we're unarmed." I leaned toward Joanna. "Joanna, put down the scythe."

Joanna looked at me like I was crazy. "Um… no?"

"You wanna pass History, or not?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Joanna opened her mouth to retaliate, but nothing came out. She pursed her lips and scowled at me as she tossed her scythe aside, which landed with a "clang."

I turned to the children again and smiled. "Just relax, okay? You don't have to be-"

"UH!" Joanna cried as she was struck in the head by an unknown source. She fell to the ground.

"What the?" I asked just before the same thing happened to me. I lost consciousness as Dr. Thorn walked past us toward Nico and Bianca.

X

Joanna

I woke to the sound of a familiar French accent followed by a few slaps to my face.

"Wake up, vampire." Dr. Thorn said as he slapped me again. He backed away as I sat up and noticed my sunglasses were off. As soon as I noticed him, I tried to lunge at him, but a knife hit the ground next to me.

"Zat was a warning, my dear." Thorn said in his French accent. "Any movement, and you'll find out how accurate I can throw."

I looked at him for a minute and noticed he was holding my scythe, "Dante." I boiled with anger, but I didn't show it. I hate it when people touch my scythe. As much as I wanted to punch his face in, I had to restrain myself. I sat down and gave him a look of extreme fury.

"Much better."

"Hey!" Called Jimmy. He was sitting next to me with Nico and Bianca next to him. "Let us go, Thorn. You have no idea who you're dealing with."

Thorn smirked and looked at Jimmy. "My good man, I am not afraid of a vampire and… whatever you are."

Bianca looked at Jimmy and I, confused. "Wait, what's he talking about?"

"Not now, Bianca." Jimmy said. "Mommy and daddy are talking."

Bianca's eyes widened. "How do you-"

"We'll explain later." I whispered to her.

"Enough of ze talk." Thorn said, pointing my scythe at Jimmy. "You two and ze demigods vill come with me and join me in ze general's army."

"Tell you what," Jimmy said, looking from the scythe to Thorn. "How about you take that scythe out of my face, then go jump off that cliff over there? Because regardless you are going over that thing."

Thorn scowled. "Watch your tone, boy. It is unwise to argue with a creature of my stature."

"Right back at ya, bitch."

Without warning, a knife shot out from behind Thorn and was buried in Jimmy's chest. He gasped when it hit, then fell over bleeding out.

Bianca and Nico stared at Jimmy in horror. I covered Nico's eyes when the knife hit, so he didn't see the actual death, but he did hear Bianca scream.

"Pity." Thorn said as he looked down at Jimmy's body. "He would have been an excellent addition. As for the rest of you, your ride is almost here." Thorn looked out toward the ocean. "Von't be long now."

I looked at my scythe in his hand. I knew it would be suicide, but I knew I had to do something. I lunged at Thorn and tried to grab my scythe. Unfortunately, he saw me coming and dodged my attack. I rolled in the snow and faced him.

"A bold move, but futile." Thorn said as he shot a volley of knives at me. I used my speed to dodge the projectiles with ease. It was easy considering I can run up to two hundred miles per hour.

As soon as I cleared the knives, I grabbed Nico and Bianca and carried them to a safe location. As soon as they were out of the way, I ran toward Thorn and prepared to strike him. Unfortunately, he saw me coming too. He raised my scythe and struck my head with the back of the blade. I flopped onto my back, grunting. I tried to get back up, but Thorn pointed my scythe at my throat.

"You see, vampire? I am not afraid of your kind for I am more than a match for you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? What about him?" I asked as I nodded to where Jimmy's body was.

Thorn laughed. "But I already killed him." Thorn's voice trailed off as he looked at the bloodstain in the snow where Jimmy's body used to be.

"Wait, but where did-"

"Bonjour, Monami." Jimmy said as he appeared behind Thorn.

Thorn whipped around and tried to stab Jimmy with my scythe, but Jimmy caught his hand and twisted it so that he dropped my scythe. Then Jimmy let go of his hand and using his full strength, punched him in the face, sending Thorn across the field, almost making him hit the school. He landed on the ground in a crater twenty feet in diameter.

Jimmy bent down and grabbed my scythe. He walked over to me, held it out, and I took it.

"Thanks." I said spinning the weapon a little, knowing it was back in its master's hands.

"Don't mention it." Jimmy replied.

Just then, a large figure lunged from where Dr. Thorn fell and landed ten feet in front of Jimmy and I.

The creature looked like a cross between a lion and a scorpion with an armored tail and a lion's body. The only thing was that the tail was covered with what looked like throwing knives; also the creature was seven feet tall.

"Zere is no escape, vampire and friend." Thorn said in a deeper, rougher voice. "I vill be taking ze children, and you two shall die here. Any last vords?"

I was going to say something snappy like, "Right back at ya, bitch!" Or, "Yeah… scythe." Then maybe slash him in the face or something, but before I could do anything like that, the manticore's eye spontaneously burst as if something had stabbed it. Thorn cried out in pain as he swung his tail in front of him. In a second, Jimmy was knocked over, but not from the monster's tail. Instead, there was a blonde, dazed girl next to Jimmy, who looked as though she were hit by a truck.

The demigods were here.

I looked as Thalia, daughter of Zues, rushed in, stabbing the manticore with her spear. The manticore roared and threw a volley of knives at her, which she blocked with her shield.

The manticore was keeping the four of them at bay with its knives, which gave me the perfect opportunity to do what we vampires do best… suck. Blood, that is.

I charged the manticore and lunged at its back. It was so busy with the demigods, that it didn't see me, although when I landed, he was more than aware I was there. I bit his back, but he bucked me off a few seconds later. I landed on my feat and wiped my mouth, which was dripping with monster blood. The manticore prepared to strike me, but unfortunately for him, I was no ordinary vampire, and I had absorbed enough energy to do this.

"CRYPTIC CANON!" I shouted. An energy bolt the size of a yoga ball shot out from my fist as I punched the air and struck the ground in front of him. The blast knocked back the beast about ten yards.

Dr. Thorn tried to get up, but he was only met by Jimmy, who was ready to punch him in the face, which he did. Thorn didn't go flying this time, but the blow was enough for him to stumble a little. After a few of these punches, Jimmy tried to perform a heavy blow, but Thorn was quick enough to stab Jimmy in his gut. Jimmy cried out in pain as he was lifted into the air. Thorn tried to throw him, but Jimmy had grabbed onto his tail and refused to let go.

Thorn swung Jimmy back and forth, but Jimmy still hung on. After a while, Jimmy began applying pressure. He slowly built it up until he managed to crack open Thorn's exo-skeleton. Blood oozed from the cracks. Thorn enraged.

"Zat's it!" He cried out as he swung Jimmy into me, sending us into the other demigods. "I have had enough of zis aggression!"

Just as he said that, a helicopter came into sight over the cliff line. It was black, large, and armed to the teeth with military gear.

"Perfect timing." Thorn said, smirking. "I vould love to stay and chat, but I must take my leave. And as insurance…"

Thorn swiped his tail to his left and managed to grab a helpless Bianca, who was trying to sneak away from the fight with her brother.

Nico looked up at her sister. "Bianca! Let her go!"

"Fat chance." Thorn said as he turned toward the copter. "Now be gone."

Just then, Anabeth got up from under Jimmy's head and charged at Thorn. When she reached him, she somehow managed to drive her knife into Thorn's back, making him cry out in pain.

Fortunately, he released Nico, who I caught in mid-air, but Anabeth was not so lucky. Percy and his friends could only watch as she was pulled off the cliff and into the sea.

Percy stood up and ran for the cliff. He didn't reach the edge, however, because of the helicopter's machineguns. Percy was knocked off his feet, but Jimmy jumped in front of him in time to save him from the bullets. They hit Jimmy, but it didn't affect him in the slightest.

While the helicopter was busy with them, I pointed my scythe at the flying machine, pressed a button, and the blade shot out of the base like a grappling hook. The blade wrapped around the blades of the helicopter, and all it took was one pull to take them off. The helicopter spiraled out of control and crashed into the cliff below.

At this point, Jimmy looked like a bloody piece of Swiss cheese with tattered clothes. He sighed as he regenerated the wounds, but he was tired from the fight. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. I began to say something, but immediately regretted touching his bloodstained shirt.

"Um… good job." I said, wiping the blood on a non-bloody part of his shirt.

Jimmy nodded. "Uh." Was all he managed to say.

So… the demigods knew we were here, so might as well introduce ourselves, then get out. I turned to them and smiled.

"Hey, thanks for your help. We're-"

I was interrupted by the butt of Percy's sword connecting with the back of my head. I fell to the ground again.

Jimmy looked at me only to meet the same fate. "Uh… lotta knock outs in this chapter…" He said as he hit the ground.

**Well, that's Chapter 1! Feel free to favorite, follow, and review. Also, if you're wondering where the huntresses are, they're in the next chapter, of course. Thanks for reading!**


	2. A Bad Day to be a Man

Joanna

It wasn't until a few minutes later when I realized I was being shaken.

"Wake up." Said a girl's voice.

I opened my eyes to see a girl of about fifteen with a silver jacket and black hair gently shaking me.

"My lady, she's awoken." She said as she looked to her right.

"Good. I would like to have a word with her." Came the voice of another girl, but this one sounded more regal and mature than a normal tween.

"In the meantime, awaken the other creature." She continued.

"Yes, mi'lady." The other girl said. She rested me against a tree nearby. After she did, she walked over to Jimmy, who was about a few yards away and had somehow lost his "lends," and kicked him in the nuts. The shock forced him awake and he screamed as he covered his "area."

"What the Hell?" He shouted. "How come Joanna got lightly shaken, but I got a shot in the nuts?"

"Silence, monster!" The girl commanded while pointing a bow at him. "You will not speak in such a way to-"

"Enough, Zoe." The younger girl said to the silver-jacketed archer. "You will bring the creature to the others to mingle. I will speak to the young woman alone."

The girl, Zoe, nodded. She and two more girls, who it turns out were behind me, grabbed Jimmy and dragged him to the right and out of my line of sight. Meanwhile, I was helped up by another pair of hands. The girl who helped me then turned to the girl in charge, bowed, then left. In a second, the small girl and I were alone.

"Um… did I do something wrong?" I asked, nervously.

"Not a thing, young one. You did manage to kill the creature I was hunting, but in this case, I will let that go."

I raised an eyebrow when she said, "young one." I almost laughed when she finished talking.

"Young one?" I asked, smiling. "You're calling me the young one?"

"Because you're not immortal like myself." The girl quickly replied.

My smile turned into a frown as I looked at her curiously. "And who are you, then?"

"I am Artemis. Goddess of the hunt."

X

Jimmy

I sat at the campfire, grabbing my still aching crotch. This would have been less awkward if Grover, Thalia, and Nico hadn't been sitting next to me, but it just hurt so much!

"Just so you know, this isn't sexual." I said, trying to explain myself. "One of those silver-jacketed chicks just took a shot at me."

"Yeah, we saw that." Thalia said, making a fake smile and nodding. "Looked painful."

"It was." I said, letting go. The pain was still there, but it didn't hurt as bad as before.

We were silent for what seemed like a full minute before Nico finally broke the silence.

"Are you a superhero?" He asked, smiling big.

I looked down at him, intrigued by his question. It was funny seeing him like this and not in his goth-punk phase he goes through in a year.

"Well… kinda. I'm a monster/human hybrid, but I'm also a vigilante."

Nico looked at me, confused. "What's that?"

"You ever heard of Blade?"

"No."

"The A-team?"

"No."

"Knight Rider?"

"No."

"The Green Arrow?"

"No."

"Punisher?"

"No."

"Batman?"

"No."

I stared at the ten year old, wondering how the Hell he hasn't heard of Batman yet.

"You're a very sheltered kid, aren't you?"

"I spent three years in a military school and my sister is very protective."

Silence again.

At least I wasn't the one making all the tension. Or was I? I kept forgetting these kids have never actually talked to a friendly monster before. Other than that Cyclops, who's named after a frozen food company.

"So…" Grover said cautiously. "What kind of monster are you?"

"I'm a Vok. A demon-bred warrior class made to kill vampires."

"Cool." Nico said, looking at me with amazement.

I smiled. "Thanks. Hey, do they have a card about me in that game of yours?"

Nico shook his head.

"Damn. Oh! I mean… shoot." I corrected. I really didn't want Bianca to yell at me because I accidentally taught her little brother a "new word."

"Hey, speaking of which," I continued "I've never heard of someone under fourteen playing Dungeons and Dragons."

"It's called Mytho-Magic." Nico said, annoyed.

"Oh, sorry. 'Mytho-Magic.'" I said using air quotes. "But if you like this game, you'd love Dungeons and Dragons."

"What's Dungeons and Dragons?" Nico asked.

"You've never heard of Dungeons and Dragons?" I asked, surprised. Then again, he was ten. "Well… it's a lot like World of Warcraft."

"What's that?"

"YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF WORLD OF WARCRAFT?!"

X

Joanna

(A few minutes ago…)

I looked at the girl like she was crazy. I knew about the Greek gods, but she was so…

"Young?" Artemis asked, almost as if she could read my mind. "I know. I am told this from time to time. It is because my hunters are around this age, so this is my way of appealing to their zone of comfort. If I wanted, I could be a middle-aged woman, or a teen like yourself, but I prefer this form over all others."

"I thought you said it was-"

"I also prefer this form." Artemis finished.

I nodded as I thought why on earth she would choose a feeble form over her prime.

"Tell me something, why are you here?" The goddess asked. "I know it is not because of the manticore."

I was speechless. I knew I couldn't tell her the whole truth, but I couldn't tell her I was there because of Percy.

Artemis nodded. "I understand. Your cause is complicated. I will not push for an answer. Enough talk. Send in the half-blood." Artemis commanded.

A second later, the tent flaps opened and in walked Bianca and Percy, who were pleading with her.

"Please don't do this. Think of Nico." He said. "Camp Half-blood has all of this to offer and more."

"I'm sorry, Percy, but this is what I want." Bianca said to him in a calm tone. She looked at Artemis. "I'm ready, miss."

"Good." Artemis said. "By the end of the night, you and the vampire shall become my hunters."

"What?" Percy and I said at the same time.

"Artemis, you can't be serious!" Percy exclaimed. "She can't be a hunter. She's not a half-blood, Nymph, nor human, she's a gods forsaken monster, and she killed my friend, Anabeth."

"Sure, blame the monster." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Don't you dare use sarcasm with me!" Percy said, getting in my face. "You destroyed the helicopter that crashed on her and the manticore!"

"Enough!" Artemis yelled. "Percy Jackson, I will not have you talk to one of my future hunters in such a way."

"But I…" Percy sighed. "Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now, let us begin the initiation."

"With all due respect," I said "I really don't think you want me as a hunter."

"That's absurd." Artemis said, waving off the subject. "Your fighting skills alone far exceed even my best warrior."

"No, I don't think you understand, I-"

"Joanna Nightingale." Artemis said in a stern tone, as the air suddenly got colder. "I insist."

I wanted to object to this, but what can I say? She's a goddess. I knew I was going to regret this, but I decided to go along with this.

"So what exactly do we get out of this?" I asked, curious.

Artemis smiled. "As well as complete freedom from this world's troubles, you will receive a place at my side as well as immortality."

This caught my attention. "Immortality, you say?" I pictured myself as Frieza from Dragon Ball Z as an evil dictator commanding over vast armies. Along with my current powers, I could be invincible!

"Now, repeat after me." Artemis continued. "I pledge myself to the goddess, Artemis..."

"I pledge myself the goddess, Artemis…" Bianca and I repeated.

"To turn my back on the company of men…"

"To turn my back on the company of men…" We repeated again.

"Accept eternal maidenhood, and join the hunt."

"Accept eternal maidenhood, and join the hunt." We finished.

Artemis smiled. "You are now hunters of Artemis, congratulations."

Bianca looked over herself in amazement. "Wow. This… this feels amazing." She exclaimed.

Apparently, she must have gotten a different boon, because I felt completely normal. Of course, this is how I felt when I discovered my energy manipulation powers as well, so I guess you'd have to be human to experience it or something.

"So… that's it? Just like that?"

"Just like that." Artemis replied. "You are now to accompany your sisters and I in our coming hunts."

"Okay, first of all, there's no way in Dante I'm calling them my sisters. Second, if you don't mind, I really should get my friend and-"

"Your friend can not come with us. You know this." Artemis said sternly.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, no duh, but I kinda want to know where he's gonna go after this. He's hopeless without me."

"Very well." Artemis said. "He is outside talking with Grover, Thalia, and Nico. You may talk with him, then wait for further orders."

"Thanks." I said as I walked out of the tent.

X

Jimmy

"… and then Joanna said, 'so did Kasi drop off the three hundred dollars she owes me?'" I said, finishing my funny story as everyone laughed hysterically. "It was not a good day to be me, let's just leave it at that."

"Oh my gods, that was hilarious." Thalia said, still laughing. "And this actually happened?"

"Yeah, true story." I said. "Which is why I never take money from Kasi. Just don't tell Joanna."

"Tell me what?" Came a voice from behind me. I whirled around and saw Joanna standing behind me.

"Oh. You're back." I said, giving her a nervous smile. "We were just, um…"

"You were talking about the time Kasi tricked you with my money?"

I stared at her for a minute, surprised she even knew about that. "You, uh… you know?"

"Of course." Joanna said with a smile. "I always knew you were a good dancer."

I blushed as memories of that came back to me. "Sh-shut up." I said quietly as Thalia laughed again.

"So what did Artemis want to talk to you about?" Grover asked.

Joanna looked at Grover, then back to me nervously as if she was trying to hide something. I tried to figure out what it was she was hiding, and then it hit me.

"Oh my god, you didn't." I said, stunned.

"Jimmy…" Joanna said, trying to calm me down.

"You did! You became a hunter! Are you out of your mind?" I shouted.

Grover and Thalia's mouths dropped open when they heard this.

"You're a hunter?" Grover asked, amazed. "I thought monsters couldn't become hunters."

"I was an exception." Joanna said, shrugging.

I grabbed Joanna's arm angrily. "Can I talk to you over here?" I asked through gritted teeth. I pulled her to a clearing where there were no hunters, demi-gods, or satyrs. "Are you out of your mind?!"

"It wasn't my fault!" Joanna said, trying to defend herself. "Artemis insisted that I'd be one of them, and she had that killer look in her eyes!"

"Joanna, you know damn well why you can't be a hunter."

"You think I hadn't thought of that?"

"If she finds out, who knows what she'd do to you!"

Joanna sighed. "Look, this is not permanent. All I gotta do is stay with them until we finish the project, then we go back to the future, I'll hide out in Myria for a while, and a few months later, everything will go back to normal."

I looked at her, thinking this over. Finally, I shook my head. "Whatever just make sure you take care of it."

I walked away from her, angrily.

X

I walked into camp, looking for the hunter who dragged me into camp. It took a minute, but I was able to find her practicing her archery. All of the arrows on the target were in the middle of the bull's-eye.

I leaned against one of the trees next to her. "Sup?" I said.

She jumped and looked at me menacingly. "What is the meaning of-"

"Where's my "Lends?" I asked, interrupting her.

"Lends? You mean that toy thou hadst on thine head?"

"Yeah, I kinda need it." I said, aggressively.

The girl scowled at me, then looked back at the target. "I don't know where thine toy is." She said as she notched another arrow. "I think one of the other hunters took it."

At this point, I'd had it with her annoyance. I stood in front of her, blocking her view of the target. The girl lowered her bow.

"Get out of the way." She said, angrily.

"Not until you tell me where my Lends is."

"Don't thoust dare tell me what to do."

"Then don't take my stuff."

The girl was quiet for a few seconds, and then she raised her bow to my face.

"I will shoot thou." She said, gritting her teeth. "I can end thine life right now and all I have to do is let go."

I chuckled a little. "Go ahead. You saw me on the battlefield and what I can do. One of those does nothing to me."

The girl stared at me for a little bit, and then smiled. "Oh really?" She lowered her bow. "Heal this."

She shot an arrow into the middle of my foot. I screamed in pain as I jumped up and down, clutching it.

"AGH! DAMNIT! OH MY GOD!"

The girl laughed a little. "Ha! Thou may be a hybrid, but Celestial Bronze can still hurt half-breeds. Anyway, thine toy is in the armory tent. Grab it and go."

X

Joanna

A few hours later, the tents were packed up and the hunters were waking to a clearing on the cliff. I followed a few of them to the clearing and was soon followed by Jimmy, who had retrieved his Lends.

"There you are. I was beginning to worry." I said, sounding sarcastic. I noticed he had a black eye and a few spots of fresh blood, other than the ones from earlier.

"What happened to you?"

"I had to wrestle this thing out of the hands of a DBZ fan." Jimmy said, pointing to his Lends. "She tried to do the 'Over 9000' meme. I see you got your silver jacket, by the way."

About an hour ago, I had received a silver jacket from Zoe Nightshade and a bow with a few arrows, complementary gifts from the hunters. I took the jacket, but refused the bow. I was always terrible at archery anyway, plus I liked my old weapon, Dante. I was wearing it under my leather jacket. It didn't show as much as if I would have worn it instead of my leather jacket, but you could still tell I had it on.

"Oh, yeah." I said, looking down at it. "You know, the color scheme isn't really my style, but it's kinda snug, you know? I'm totally keeping it when we go back to Myria."

Jimmy grumbled and looked away.

"Oh stop." I said. "I told you I have it under control."

Just then, I saw a flicker of light coming from the sky that looked like it was moving.

"What is that?" Jimmy said, looking up.

The light looked like it was coming closer, and that's when I realized what it was.

"It's Apollo! Jimmy turn on the Lends!"

"I'm doing it! I'm doing it!"

Jimmy presses a button on the side of the Lends and it beeped. Just as he did, the massive fireball in the sky came to a stop on the ground in the middle of the clearing. As the smoke cleared, a cherry-red sports car was reveled. The vehicle was so hot that the snow melted within ten feet from it and it looked like it was glowing for a moment. The door opened and out from the car stepped a handsome man wearing a cool leather jacket, a pair of jeans, and sunglasses, the typical douchebag look, although I shouldn't really call him a douche because this man was…

"Apollo." Artemis called to her brother.

Apollo looked at his sister and smiled. "Hey, little sis. You rang?"

"For the last time, brother," Artemis said, pinching between her eyes, "we are twins. You were not born first."

"Yeah I was. By a few minutes."

Artemis rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I need you to take my hunters and these other… people to Camp Half-blood."

Jimmy's eyes widened. "Oh my god! We're going to Camp Half-blood!" After he said that, he began laughing and giggling like a little girl while waving his hands ridiculously. In fact, he did it so much that I punched him into the snow.

"Down, boy." I said.

When we loaded onto the bus, Apollo's car which was turned into a bus, Apollo said a few things to Percy and his friends, including Zoe, Nico, and Bianca. The rest of the hunters loaded onto the bus when he stopped Jimmy and I.

"Wait a minute." Apollo said as he held out a hand to us. I was afraid he was going to leave us here or tell us when we were going to die, but instead, he looked off into the distance and said, "I feel a haiku coming on."

Everyone groaned when he said this. I, however, was intrigued. I mean it wasn't every day that the god of music and poetry tells a haiku.

"Birds fly in the sky, over my car so high up, I look good in these shades."

"Um… that was six syllables." I said, not trying to be rude.

Apollo looked at me. "Oh yeah. Hang on, let me think…"

There was silence for a few seconds, but then Jimmy spoke up.

"I am so awesome?"

Apollo smiled and snapped his fingers. "That's it. Nice work, bro."

Jimmy smiled when he said this. Apollo walked into the bus, followed by Jimmy who said something like, "I got complemented by a god." I, however, was looking at Apollo and thinking how on earth the god of poetry sucked at haikus.

Once we were loaded onto the bus, I sat with the other hunters, who were talking to each other about various things, like their bows, or the manticore, or monsters they've hunted… at least until Jimmy wanted to sit next to me.

"Shove off, creep. This is our side of the bus." One of them said.

"Heh, 'our side.' That's cute." Jimmy said with a smile that immediately turned into a frown. "Seriously, though, I want to sit there."

"Well it's taken." She said back to him.

"By who?"

"By me." The girl said as she sat in the seat next to me.

Jimmy scowled at the hunter, then walked toward the newly open seat. "Fine, then this one's mine."

"Nuh uh! This is mine!" Said another hunter as she moved to that seat.

"Fine, then I'll get yours." Jimmy said, aggravated, but as soon as he took a step in that direction, another hunter took the empty seat. Jimmy stomped his foot. "What the Hell?" He shouted.

"Jimmy, just sit in the front." I said, getting annoyed.

"No! This is the only chance I'm gonna get to sit in a god's bus and I wanna feel all of the bumps!"

The hunter leaned over to me and whispered, "This is why I joined. Men are so arrogant."

"What was that? You talking sh#t about me?" Jimmy roared.

As soon as he finished his sentence, the bus's engine sprang to life. I looked past the huntress next to me and looked at Jimmy.

"Um, Jimmy? Maybe you should sit down now?"

"Screw that." Jimmy said, waving me off. "I can handle some bumps and air turbulence.

"Hey, isn't that Thalia at the wheel?" A random hunter asked. Before there could be a reaction, the bus lurched foreword, sending Jimmy into the back wall as soon as we took off.

I could feel the bus's speed and the heat from the engine. What was Apollo thinking, putting Thalia in the driver's seat? She could get us killed! I pulled myself out of my seat and slowly made my way to the front using the chairs as steps in a ladder. The force was so intense, it felt like doing pull-ups on Jupiter, but eventually, I made it to the front. Apollo was trying to give advice to Thalia, but she was still screwing up. That's when I grabbed the wheel.

"Give me the wheel!" I shouted as I steered against her.

"No! I can do this!" Thalia shouted as she tried to fight me. Thalia may have only one sixth of my strength, but she was wrestling the wheel from me like she had Jimmy's strength.

"Stop! Stop!" Apollo shouted. "You're gonna crash! Look out!"

Thalia and I looked up and saw Camp Half-blood's lake right in front of us. I couldn't see its features, we were going so fast, but the lake was closing in three… two…

"HIT THE BRAKES!" Apollo and I shouted at the same time. Thalia slammed the breaks, making Apollo's car stop right on top of the lake. Unfortunately, this also sent Jimmy, who was in the back of the bus, off of the back wall and through the front windshield. He soared through the air, skipped twice on the lake, then crashed into a tree, making it knock over. Forest and water nymphs scattered when this happened.

Thalia, Apollo, and I looked straight ahead of ourselves like we just beat Death. After a minute, I finally spoke.

"Um… sorry about your windshield." I said.

"Oh, um… it's fine. It'll repair itself." Apollo said, still looking straight ahead. "Hey, is your friend going to be okay?"

"Oh… yeah." I said, still in a daze. "He's been through worse. Trust me."

"Okay, good." Apollo said. He patted a hand on Thalia's shoulder. "Nice driving, kid."

Thalia didn't respond. She just stared straight through the broken windshield, but she nodded a little in response.

"Hey." Jimmy said through a broken tree and a pile of dirt over his head. "No rush or anything, but can someone please dig me up?"


	3. Fight Night and We Make a Love Story

Jimmy

After the demigods dug me out, Apollo waved us goodbye and left in a fiery ball.

The hunters didn't say a word to me, or any of the other boys. Instead, they walked over to their cabin and settled in like nothing happened.

Meanwhile, Percy, Thalia, and Grover showed Nico and I around camp. For some reason, I thought Percy was a little timid around me, but I think that's because he hadn't gotten used to the fact that I was a monster yet.

Next, Percy showed us where we were staying. Nico and I got Hermes cabin even though everyone there argued against the fact I was a monster. In fact, the night I slept there, everyone shifted to the other side of the cabin, and I doubt it was because I snore loudly.

The next day at breakfast, we went to the dining hall. Everyone sat at their own tables, but I was the only one at mine… excluding Joanna, of course. She wasn't a reject from the hunters, in fact they thought she was the coolest, safe for Zoe, who was probably jealous of her powers.

At our table, Joanna and I were playing chess, although it had been forever since I had last played. I even had to ask Joanna how to play, and I think she was getting a little annoyed.

Chiron

I looked at the two monsters, cautiously. They seemed okay, but for some reason, I had the strangest feeling that they were dangerous. I always had this feeling when I was around friendly monsters, but they were actually inside my camp, and I doubt they were any different than Tyson.

"Hey," I said, leaning toward Mr. D "do you think those new monsters are…"

I saw James make a move on his chessboard.

"YHATZEE!" He cried out.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" The other screamed as she leapt over the table and tackled him to the ground.

Mr. D was still looking at his food, but could tell they were causing trouble.

"Retarded?" He asked.

"Yes, that's the word." I said as I continued to watch them.

Jimmy

After the fight settled down, Joanna stormed off toward the woods. I waved her off and sat back down, continuing to eat.

Just as Joanna left, someone else sat down opposite from me. He was a muscular teenager who looked like he had just one on one with a machine.

"Hi there." He said. "Want some company?"

I gestured toward the seat. "Sure. Why not? I've never eaten lunch with a demigod before."

"Thanks." He said as he took a bite from a breakfast burrito. "So… you and Joanna are monsters?"

"Um… yeah." I said, laughing a little. "Why? You think we're gonna eat you or something?"

The kid gave me a nervous look.

"Yeah… we're not those kind of monsters."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank the gods. My cabin actually thought you two were gonna go on a killing spree in the night or something. Speaking of which, where's your vampire friend?"

"Oh, she's grabbing a bite."

We looked at each other for a minute, and then we burst out laughing.

"I like you," I said, still laughing, "What's your name?"

"Charlie Bekendorf." He said, extending his hand.

I shook it. "James McClure, but my friends call me Jimmy."

Charlie nodded. "Hey, do you mind if I ask you something?"

X

Joanna

I took a bite out of the giant scorpion I had killed. It hadn't turned into dust because it wasn't killed by Celestial Bronze, in case you're wondering.

I spit out the chunk of meat and reached into my pocket. I took out a straw I got from the dining hall, put it into the spot of blood and began drinking. After a while, I stopped and…

"What? Just because I'm a vampire means that I can't drink out of a straw?" I asked. "I'm talking to you, fan-fiction reader!" I shook my head as I continued. "Racist."

As I finished talking, I heard something coming from my right. Another monster, maybe?

I turned my head in its direction and saw a teenage girl walking toward me. She looked a little scared that I noticed her approaching. She wasn't armed, so she couldn't have been trying to kill me.

I sighed as I spoke to her. "What? I'm eating."

"You… drink monster blood?" The girl asked.

"Vampire. Duh."

She shrugged as she walked closer. "Makes sense." She sat on the ground next to the stump I was sitting on. "So you're really a vampire? Like from Twilight?"

I had to use all of my restraint to not tear her into pieces. "No… I don't sparkle." I said through gritted teeth. I hate it when people compare me to Twilight.

"Yeah, but you're still a vampire, so-"

"At least compare me to Alucard from Helsing Ultimate. Can you do that?"

She looked at me for a little bit, probably trying to figure out what that even was. I sighed "You know what? Never mind."

I continued to drink as she looked at me with interest. Honestly, I was a little creped out.

"I'm Selena, by the way." She said, extending her hand.

I looked at her hand, then back to her. "Joanna Nightingale." I said, not shaking her hand. "Now go away."

"Actually, I just wanted to ask you something reel quick." She said, standing up.

"Fine. Make it quick." I said, not looking at her.

"Are you and Jimmy… a thing?"

I froze as soon as she said this. I turned my head toward her, a little insulted.

"Um… what?" I asked.

"I'm a daughter of Aphrodite, I have to know this. Also, you two seem very close."

Jimmy

"What? No! Hell no!" I cried out, feeling insulted. "Joanna and me? Can you imagine?"

"Well I was just asking." Charlie said, trying to lighten his blow. "You two just seem so close is all."

Joanna

"Do you always start conversations like that?" I said, standing up.

"No." Selena said. "Again, I just had to know."

"Well now you know." I said. "Although to be honest… he is kinda hot."

Selena raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

It took me a few seconds to realize what I had just said.

"Don't look at me like that. We're still just friends and I'm a hunter now, but…" I continued letting my guard down for a minute, "doesn't mean I can't still look. I mean have you seen him? He's got nice hair, he's fit…"

Jimmy

"… and her boobs! Oh my god!"

I looked at Charlie, who was giving me a weird look.

"I just made this very awkward, didn't I?"

"A little, yeah." He agreed.

"Well you gotta know how I feel, right? Haven't you ever felt like this about some girl?"

Charlie looked down, thinking. "Well… there's this one girl. Her name's Selena."

Joanna

"Charlie… Charlie..." I pondered, "Where have I heard that name before?"

"He's a son of Hephaestus." Selena said.

"Wait, the forge god? Doesn't that mean he's a nerd?"

Jimmy

"Doesn't that mean she's a…" I noticed how Charlie began to scowl at me, so I didn't say it. "… never mind."

"Well to be honest," Charlie said while leaning foreword, "we met one day during one of the in-camp battles we hold every once in a while. We talked during a break when one of the campers was injured badly, and we really hit it off."

"Really?" I asked. "Why didn't you ask her out?"

Joanna

"I don't know, I just… got scared, you know?" She said, nervously rubbing her arm.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked in dis-belief. "A daughter of Aphrodite, scared of rejection?"

"I know it's hard to believe, but… I don't know… I really like him. He's not like the other boys. He doesn't see me as some object, he sees me for who I really am."

I looked at her for a minute, waiting for her to burst out laughing and say something like, "Just kidding, he's just hot," but she never said that.

"Oh my gods, you really feel that way, don't you?" I asked.

Selena nodded. "I just want to have the courage to do this, but I don't know if I can get him to say yes."

I gripped her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Selena, you're probably the nicest daughter of Aphrodite I've met. Trust me, you can get him."

Jimmy

"Dude, you're ripped. You can get her." I said to Charlie.

"You really think so?" He asked, hopeful.

"Hell yeah. Just remember to actually listen to her when she talks, though. You may hate it, but it'll pay off in the end."

Charlie's face darkened. "What if it doesn't work out?"

"Oh please, the day you two break up is the day you die in a boat explosion."

Charlie sighed. "I guess you're right. Okay, I'll do it."

Joanna

"I'll do it." Selena said, hugging me, which I wasn't entirely okay with. "You've been so wonderful, thank you so much!"

I chuckled nervously as I patter her back, awkwardly. "Heh, heh, yeah. No problem."

Selena released me and ran off into the woods. I smiled as she ran off.

"Glad I could help."

X

Jimmy

After breakfast, I decided to try out one of the obstacle courses in the camp. Naturally, I dashed past nearly everything except the fire pit. Little known fact about me, I can regenerate anything except burns. I don't know why, but I can't. In fact, this one time, I fought a fire demon and he burned the muscle and skin on my right arm clean off. That took me weeks to fix. Don't get me wrong, I can regenerate the wounds, but it takes a while.

Anyway, after I chickened out, I decided to walk back to Hermes cabin when I saw none other than Zoe Nightshade practicing her archery on a few tin cans tied to a tree hanging from strings. I was bored, so I decided to talk to her. I mean why not, right?

She saw me coming, but didn't do anything to stop me.

"What dos thou want?" She asked, clearly not welcoming me.

"Eh, I'm bored, so I came here."

"Good for thou, not leave." She shot another arrow at a can, hitting it dead center.

"Oh come on, why're you such a man hater? What have I ever done to you?"

"Insulting me, driving away the manticore, insulting the hunters…"

"Okay, wrong question to ask." I said, leaning on a tree. I watched her shoot another can off the stump. "So why'd you become a hunter?"

She was about to fire another arrow, but stopped as she heard me say that. She looked at me, curious. "Tis an odd question for a man to ask one such as I."

I shrugged. "Just curious is all."

Zoe focused on the can again and steadied her bow. "I just… got tired of men." She shot the arrow and split the can's frame. "Years ago, one betrayed me, so I got mad and joined the hunters."

"Wait, you got mad? Is that it?"

"Tis complicated." Zoe said, notching another arrow.

"Well maybe he's seen the error of his ways. Maybe you can talk to him."

"I can't. He is dead." She let loose the arrow and hit another can.

"Oh… well who was he?"

"A terrible man named Hercules."

I stopped her as she raised her bow. "Woah! You met Hercules?"

"Um… yes. Now release me."

"You gotta tell me what he's like! Was he really as strong as he was? How quickly did he kill the Nemian lion? Was he-"

"Silence!" Zoe shouted as she turned to me. "I shall not tell thou, now leave."

Zoe steadied her bow and aimed her notched arrow. That's when I had an idea.

"What if I beat you in archery?" I asked.

Zoe stopped and looked at me, a little amused. "Thou? Ha! Thine friend, Ms. Nightingale hast told me thou art a terrible shot."

"Okay, I didn't understand a word of the first part, but I am a good shot, and I'll prove it."

Zoe handed me her bow. "Fine, prove it."

I grabbed her bow and an arrow she had. I notched it.

"Watch me as I prove you wrong." I aimed the arrow. "Get ready, because I'm gonna stick my rod in your cans."

"Just shoot the arrow." Zoe said, un-amused.

I looked down the bow at the cans hanging from the tree. I took a deep breath, pulled back, and let an arrow loose.

Nothing happened.

I looked around for a second, trying to figure out what happened.

"Wait… what?"

"Thou missed." Zoe said.

"No! I just… need to be closer." I said.

I took a few steps toward the cans and fired again… missed.

"Damnit!"

I took a few more steps toward the cans and shot again… missed.

"What the Hell?"

"James, just give up." Zoe said.

"No, I can do this." I said as I took another shot, missing again.

I kept walking closer to the cans firing again and again, missing every shot. Soon I got inches away from the cans and fired again.

Missed.

I grabbed the cans and pulled down the whole branch in rage. I walked back to Zoe and gave her back her bow and arrows.

"Fine, you win." I said in a fit of rage.

Zoe smiled in triumph. "I knew a man of your stature couldn't best me."

I waved her off as I walked away.

Zoe turned toward me and called, "Then again, thou art not an archer. We'll see how you fare in the battle tonight."

"The what?"

X

"Welcome to the battleground!" Chiron said as he stood atop a large stump.

Apparently, it was a tradition for the demigods to fight each other in a large arena for fun… no wonder Luke was able to raise an army of angry demigods.

"Today, we have some… special guests here. The hunters of Artemis themselves." He said, unenthusiastically. "It will be a battle of fifteen hunters against fifteen campers, and since the hunters have a monster on their side, it is only fair that the demigods receive one as well."

Everyone looked at me when he said this. It was only then that I got what they were implying.

"Uh… no." I said as nicely as I could.

"Come on, we need you." Percy said. "It's bad enough that the hunters are immortal warriors, but now they have a vampire on their side."

"Dude, I'm only going to get someone killed, I'm not-"

"Fine, stay out of the battle." Joanna said, interrupting me. "I would have beaten you anyway."

I raised an eyebrow and laughed at her remark. "I'm sorry, I would have lost? I'm pretty sure I'm the powerhouse around here."

Joanna walked up to me as she spoke. "That's only because I've been holding back. You scared you'll lose to my full potential?"

"I'm scared that you'll be begging for mercy before I'm done with you." I said, letting my rage swell.

"Well we can settle this dispute once and for all. Right here, right now."

I smirked. "Fine. I'll see you on the battlefield, bitch."

"Bring it, yellow eyes!"

X

We set up our defenses around Zues's fist, a pile of boulders, which looks nothing like a fist… at all. Percy and Thalia were on my team along with Charlie from earlier, some girl he was flirting with, Nico for some reason, and nine other demigods.

"Okay, here's the plan." Thalia began, "We'll have two teams. One will draw the attention of the hunters while the other goes for the flag. The team that goes for the flag will be composed of me and three others while seven people try and draw the hunters' attention. Percy, Jimmy, Charlie, and Nico will be on defense."

"Wait, shouldn't Jimmy be on offense?" Percy asked. "He could plow through their lines like they were nothing."

"Jimmy has to stay here incase the hunters want to do the same thing with their monster, no matter what, stay on defense."

"Unless you see an opening." Percy said.

"No. Stay here no matter what." Thalia said, looking at Percy with a stern face. "Now let's go!"

The sound that began the match sounded and the two teams charged into the forest. Almost instantly, I could hear sounds of battle ringing through the woods. While it was going on, I sat by the rocks, bored. I couldn't believe I had to sit here while Joanna's probably blasting her way through everyone, then again, if she was, she should have been here by now.

"What's a bitch?" Nico asked me, innocently.

I looked at him, both amused and freaked out that I had just taught him that word.

"Um… what?"

"You said it when you were talking to Joanna."

I looked at him for a minute, trying to think of something to say.

"I didn't say that." I said, trying to cover up my mistake. "I said… 'Mitch.' It's a complement I always give her."

"Oh… Mitch." Nico said, smiling and nodding.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah."

Just then, Percy jumped down from Zues's Fist and landed next to me.

"Jimmy, I see an opening. If we go now, we can get the flag."

I stood up to protest. "Wait, but what if…" That's when I remembered: the demigods were supposed to lose. I nodded. "Okay, let's go."

X

Percy and I ran through the battlefield at full speed, dodging tree branches, or in my case hitting every single one that was in my range.

In a moment, the creek was in sight and we moved into enemy territory.

"Okay, just one-" I was cut off by an explosion of smoke.

As I breathed it in, I felt my nostrils burning with the smell of… I really don't know what it was, but it smelled horrible!

"Augh! No fair!" Percy said, waving the yellow gas away. "Fart gas is cheating!"

"Is that what this is?" I asked, dropping to my knees and covering my nose. "God, it's like a skunk sprayed a pile of rotten eggs, then lit them on fire! You know what? To hell with this."

I grabbed Percy by his shirt collar, and then lunged into the air. I put Percy on my back for protection, and slammed onto the ground.

BOOM!

The ground shook and a crack formed under my feet. A few hunters fell from the trees and hit the ground either on their backs or their feet. I knew that wasn't all of them, but at least I knew who I was fighting now.

My eyes turned amber as I charged them. "Get back to the flag!" I shouted as Percy ran off.

A hunter shot an arrow at me, but my reflexes kicked in and I slapped it out of the way. She tried to draw her knives, but it was no use. I grabbed her head and slammed her onto the ground. The force wasn't enough to kill her, but it was enough to knock her out.

The next one was smart by drawing her knives early… or she has a death wish. She swiped them at me, but I jumped out of the way just in time. I took a swing at her, but she blocked it by batting it out of the way. The hunter tried to stab me, but I blocked the blade as it was inches to my face.

I grabbed her and threw her into one of the other hunters in the tree above me. They fell in unison onto the ground.

Just as I turned to follow Percy, I felt a sharp pain in my legs. I fell down just as a hunter tackled me, pinning me to the ground. He had in her hands two hunting knives coated in black blood… my blood.

"Still think you're hot stuff now?" She asked, tauntingly.

After she asked that, I wedged my foot in-between her and I and pushed off. The hunter soared into the sky until she disappeared.

I stood up and looked up, waiting for her to come down, positioning myself accordingly. After a minute, there was a shrill scream growing louder and louder until...

WHUMP!

I caught the hunter before she hit the ground. By the look of her, she was scared out of her mind. Her hair was messy, and she had a bird stuck in her hood.

I set her down as she shivered.

"You okay?" I asked her.

"I-I-I think so." She replied.

"Good." I punched her in the face, knocking her out.

"Now to get that flag." I said, sprinting toward where the flag was.

Joanna

I watched from a treetop as Jimmy sprinted across the field.

"Um… he's coming." I called out.

I would have preferred offense in this game, or even defense. But lookout? Come on! I mean I have super senses, but I can fight. Better than Zoe, even. This isn't fair.

"Hm… it seems I have underestimated the Vok." Zoe said, thinking.

"What do we do?" Bianca asked. "I mean we can't kill him."

"True, but we can slow him down." Zoe said, drawing her bow and notching an arrow.

She aimed her shot at Jimmy as he kept running. After about what seemed like a full minute of aiming, she released the arrow. I didn't see it hit Jimmy, but I heard it connect with something followed by…

"AGH! DAMNIT! EXACT… SAME… SPOT!"

Zoe smiled.

"Nice shot, lieutenant." Bianca said.

Zoe notched another arrow and walked toward where Jimmy was.

"Stay here." She said. "If I fall, guard the flag with your life."

Jimmy

I pulled the arrow out of my foot and grunted in pain. Celestial bronze may not fully kill me, but it still hurts like hell.

I stood up and tried to put weight on my injured foot. It hurt, but nothing I haven't experienced before. Unfortunately, as soon as I stood up, I was hit by another arrow, which struck me like a taser. I fell to the ground on my side.

I tried to get up, but was met by a bow and arrow owned by Zoe Nightshade.

"I would stay down if I wert thou." She said in a serious tone.

"Wow," I said, "you know, I'd be reel threatened if you were… well… threatening."

"Silence!" Zoe commanded. "Thou hast made fun of me for too long, now I shall hast thy revenge."

"Well then I hate to disappoint you, sister."

I quickly swiped out her legs, making her fall to the ground. Then I ninja-flipped and landed a few feet away as soon as she got up.

Zoe didn't speak, she fired the notched arrow at me, but I caught it and threw it back at her. I have no idea how she did this, but somehow she used the force of the arrow to bring it back to her bow, then shoot it at me again, hitting me in my shoulder.

"It appears thou hast underestimated me as well." She said, putting away her bow and taking out her hunting knives.

I ripped out the arrow and charged her. I tried punching her, but missed and hit a tree instead, ripping out a large chunk of wood. Zoe then stabbed me in the back with her knives. I spun around to counter, but she ducked under my arm and stabbed my shoulder.

At this point, I lunged out from between Zoe and the tree and landed on the ground ten feet away, making a shockwave and forcing Zoe to the ground. I jumped and tried to punch her, but she rolled out of the way just in time as my fist collided with the ground, cracking it.

Zoe stood up and prepared for another assault. I started to charge her, but out of nowhere, I was interrupted by Joanna.

"What the? Joanna?" I asked, surprised.

"Ms. Nightingale! Out of my way!" Zoe shouted.

"With all due respect, Zoe," Joanna said, "I've been friends with this guy for a year now, and even with your skills, you can't beat him. Believe me, he's a challenge for most monsters I know."

I could tell Zoe wanted to interject, but she knew Joanna was right. She put away her knives. "Very well." She said as she ran off.

Joanna and I didn't say much. We just stood there, looking at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. In the background, I could hear the battle still raging on. The creek between us was flowing quickly. It wasn't deep and it sounded like water trickling.

"So…" I spoke finally, "you were defense too?"

Joanna shrugged. "Lookout, actually. How exactly were you defense?"

"Percy saw an opportunity and we took it."

"Wait, so he's out here?"

"Nah, he's back at the flag."

"Oh."

More silence. I still couldn't believe Joanna hadn't struck yet. Usually, she was the first to do so.

"Hunters are down three guys, by the way." I said.

"I saw that." Joanna said, nodding. "I've seen better."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you suck at combat. It was more like wildly flailing."

"This coming from the woman who was assigned lookout."

Joanna took out her scythe, angrily. "Hey! That wasn't my choice! Zoe wanted me as lookout, so I became lookout."

"Since when do you take orders?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Joanna was quiet for a few seconds, but she enraged a moment later. "Why don't you go back to defense?"

"At least I get to fight someone."

"At least I see them coming!"

"At least I don't have to fight with an oversized di-"

"Oh that's it! You are dead!"

Just then, Zoe came running out of the woods with the campers' flag in hand.

"Joanna! I have their flag! Cover-"

Just as Zoe was in range, Joanna raised her palm and hit her so hard in her forehead that she fell down. Joanna then grabbed the flag from her.

"What art thou doing? We could have won!" Zoe shouted in frustration.

Joanna tied the flag around her waist as she stared me down. "Sorry, Zoe. This just got personal."

**To be continued…**


	4. The Oracle Makes My Day

Jimmy

Joanna grinned as she took out her scythe, "Dante." I could tell she was looking forward to this by the sinister look in her eye, and I'll be honest… I was scared.

At this point, Zoe began running back toward the demigod side of the arena.

I looked back at Joanna, who was swinging her scythe, as if she was testing it out.

"Well what are you waiting for, McClure?" Joanna asked. "Hit me with your best shot."

My eyebrows knitted. "Fine." I said as I grabbed a tree next to me.

I ripped it out from the ground and threw it at Joanna. She cut it in half with one stroke, but she didn't have enough time to dodge my next strike as I lunged at her. My fist connected with her face, which sent her into another tree behind her.

I charged at her to deliver another strike, but she saw it coming and dodged out of the way as I punched the tree behind her, breaking it in half. Joanna flipped onto the falling part of the tree and kicked it into my head before bounding away into a clearing. After I tore the tree in half, I followed.

Percy

The fighting had intensified at Zues's fist as we tried to hold off the hunters before they could get to Jimmy and Joanna. We were managing to hold them of, but we couldn't hold them for long, even with the three hunters Jimmy knocked out earlier.

Suddenly, Zoe Nightshade ran toward our ranks, but she wasn't charging or anything. For some reason, she looked… scared. Thalia pointed her spear at her, but I waved for her to lower it.

"Percy!" Zoe called as she stopped in front of me. "Something's happened. Thou need to act now!"

As she spoke, the fighting between the hunters and demigods slowly stopped.

"Why? What's happened?" I asked.

"Joanna… she has the flag."

The hunters cheered as they thought their victory was certain.

"For the love of Zues," Thalia said, "don't rub it in our faces."

"No, thou dost not understand!" She continued. "She is fighting McClure!"

Everyone was silent. A second later, there was what sounded like an explosion in the background. Everyone stopped what they were doing and ran towards the noise.

Jimmy

A shockwave rang out as Joanna's scythe and my fist collided, making a crater in the ground under Joanna's feet. She struggled to deflect the blow as she dropped to her knees. All it took was one more strike for her to fall to the ground.

I was about to finish her off, but when I pulled back my fist, her eyes glowed bright red, then in an instant, a bright red ray of energy shot out from Joanna's eyes and hit me in my chest. I flew across the clearing, slamming into another tree.

Before I could react to the blow, I felt a sharp pain in my gut. Joanna's scythe had extended and stabbed me. Black blood covered the wound. Joanna retracted the blade out of the wound and spun it over her head, cutting down every tree within thirty feet and breaking more of my skin.

Joanna charged at me, but I reacted as quick as she moved. I threw a tree in front of me and I used my special technique. My fist glowed with yellow energy and I punched the tree.

"ATOMIC FIST!" I shouted as my fist collided with it.

The tree shattered like glass, sending shards of wood in every direction like bullets. Joanna tried to dodge the projectiles, but they were too fast. I heard Joanna cry out in pain as she landed on the ground. She had shards of wood sticking out of her leg and her arm along with some cuts here and there. Vampires can't bleed, so she wasn't spraying blood here and there.

She tried to get up, but I charged her, grabbed her by the head, and slammed her to the ground. After the second strike, she put her feet on my chest and pushed off, making me fly twenty feet. Before I hit the ground, Joanna shrunk her scythe into a two foot long sword and ran at me with her incredible speed again and again, causing cut after cut on my body.

After a few seconds of this, I noticed her coming from the right and punched her in the face, making her fly into another tree.

I charged her again and she charged me, somehow not more injured. She swung her scythe at me and I punched it with all my strength. The force of the blow caused a shockwave that spanned fifty feet and clouding everything in dust.

After the dust cleared, I looked around at the battleground. Everything in fifty feet from us were either destroyed or bent away from us. I looked over at Joanna, who looked like she was out of breath, and frankly so was I.

"You done?" I asked, panting.

Joanna took a minute to catch her breath, and then spoke. "Yeah… yeah, I'm done."

X

"And the winners are… the hunters." Chiron said. "For the fiftieth time in a row."

After Joanna and I settled down, we realized that we had crossed the creek and gone to the hunters' side, and since the flag was tied to Joanna's waist, the hunters had won.

The hunters cheered as Chiron announced the victory and congratulated Joanna. Meanwhile, I got a special talking from Percy.

"Why didn't you just grab the flag from her? We could have won if you had done that." He said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I retorted, "can _you_ catch someone running about two hundred miles per hour?"

"You did a pretty good job hitting her, though."

"Guys! Stop it!" Thalia said, getting in between us. "Percy, Jimmy did everything he could to stop Joanna. He tried his best."

"Thank you." I said to Thalia.

Percy looked at Thalia like she was crazy. "You're kidding. You're taking his side? He's a monster!"

"Tyson's also a monster, Percy and look how he turned out."

"That's different, he's my brother. _He _isn't. We don't even know why he's here." Percy looked at me and grabbed my shirt. "Listen to me, I'm going to find out why you're here if it kills me."

Percy released me, then marched off back toward camp. As soon as he took five steps, though, he stopped when he saw something coming out from the woods. A thin, dead-looking figure enveloped in green mist walking towards us. Everyone else was surprised when they saw this, because this was no ordinary person… this was the Oracle!

"Jimmy?" Joanna asked me. "Where's the lends?"

"Don't worry, I hung it up in a nearby tree to tape the battle. It'll get this, I think."

Joanna nodded as the oracle stopped in her tracks. A few feet away from the group.

"I am the Oracle of Delphi, teller of prophecies seer of fate." It spoke in a creepy, old voice. "What do you seek?"

At this time, Zoe Nightshade walked up to the oracle and spoke.

"I had a vision that the goddess, Artemis, is in danger. What shall we do?"

The Oracle's eyes glowed green as she spoke the prophecy.

"Five shall go west to the goddess in chains,

One shall be lost in the land without rain,

The bane of Olympus shows the trail,

Campers and Hunters combined prevail,

The Titan's curse must one withstand,

And one shall perish by a parent's hand."

With that, the Oracle's eyes turned back to normal, and it walked back into the woods.

X

A meeting was held after that to determine who would go on the quest. Of course, Joanna and I had to stay behind because of… well if was demigods and hunters only, and Joanna wasn't invited.

Meanwhile, we were in Hermes cabin talking about the project. Unfortunately…

"You left it in the battlefield?!" Joanna shouted.

"I'm sorry, I must have forgot it."

"Oh you forgot it! Like I haven't heard that one before!"

"Well excuse me for being in awe. How many times have you seen an Oracle that sprays green mist?"

Joanna grabbed my shirt. "Think of this, then. Who knows what kind of creature stumbled upon it? If that thing breaks, or worse, is stolen, we don't have a project. And if I fail, you fail and then some. Got it?"

Just then, there came a knock on the door. Joanna and I looked in that direction, then back to each other.

"Probably some Hermes kid who forgot his sword or something." I said as Joanna released me. "I'll get it."

I walked over to the door and opened it, but it was no Hermes kid. To my surprise, standing in the doorframe was Percy Jackson… and he had the Lends.

"Is this yours?" He asked with an angry tone.

I stared at him in shock, not knowing what to do. While I thought, all I could say was, "uuuhh…"

"You two were documenting us… this whole time?" He said, sounding angrier.

Joanna walked over to the door as he spoke. "Who is i... oh, for Chromious' sake."

"How did you know it was a camera?" I asked.

"There's a red light blinking and "REC" in little, red lights on the inside. I'm not stupid."

"Okay, look…" I said, as I brought him inside and closed the door, "the truth is, we were assigned a project to document something that had to do with ancient Greece, so Joanna and I chose to do it on you and your friends."

Percy's eyes widened. "Me? Why me?"

"Duh. You were the one who retrieved the lightning bolt, brought back the fleece, and fought Ch-"

Joanna gripped my shoulder with machine strength before I could say any more. "Cholera." She finished. "We heard you had Cholera, but you don't, so… you know."

Percy crossed his arms and sat down. "So… I'm not hated by monsters?"

"Just the normal ones, but the Greek monsters have a grudge against you since you've killed a Gorgon and a Hydra."

"Wait," Percy interrupted, "_a _Gorgon and Hydra? You mean there's more?"

"Well… yeah." Joanna said. "You didn't really think there was just one of each monster, did you?"

Percy rested his head against the wall behind him, dumbfounded. "This is unreal. I can't believe there are more of these… things."

"Look, just be grateful they're not on Earth." I said. "They're all on Myria."

"Where?"

"Okay, I think that's enough talking." Joanna said as she took the Lends. "Percy, you gotta go. We have to take care of a few things."

Percy nodded as he got up. He walked toward the door, but before he left, he turned around and looked at Joanna.

"One more thing… I just found out that Anabeth's still alive, so… I'm sorry I blamed you."

Percy closed the door on his way out.

Joanna turned to me and slapped me as soon as he was out.

"Ow! What the Hell?"

"You almost revealed Myria and the fact that we're from the future?" She said quietly through gritted teeth.

"Well… it just sorta slipped out, you know?"

"Shut up. We're leaving. Now."

I raised an eyebrow. "I thought Ginger was bringing us back."

Joanna rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a small, black box.

"I swiped this from her. It's a return portal. We go through it, we're back in 2014."

I shrugged. "Whatever, I'm game. I'm tired of getting shot in the foot anyway."

Joanna pressed the button on the top and a portal opened in front of us. It was swirling, black, and looked menacing, but for me, it was the only way home.

Joanna and I stepped through.

X

Once we crossed to the other side, we landed in Ginger's apartment.

"Well that was exciting. We met demigods, got some footage, and now we'll pass for sure." I said.

Joanna smiled. "Yeah. I bet… wait… where's Ginger?"

I looked around. "Yeah, where is she? She should have been greeting us with a million questions by now."

I looked around the room. Now that I had a better look of it, the whole room looked like it hadn't been used in a while, but Ginger's belongings were there.

"This is so weird. I can't believe Ginger's gone!" I said. "What the Hell happened?"

"Um… Jimmy? You're gonna want to see this." Joanna said.

I looked in her direction, and my mouth dropped open. She was looking out a window at what looked like the city of New Rome, but instead of the usual peaceful city it was, it had changed. There were explosions, fire, and gigantic creatures fighting each other.

My home was now a war zone.


	5. Days of Past's Future (Chaos intro)

Joanna

The devastation done to the city was beyond anything I had ever experienced. I had seen war and carnage before, but not at this caliber.

"How the hell did this happen?" Jimmy asked, still looking out the window. "What did we do?"

"It must have been when we interacted in the actual events of the past." I said, realizing our mistake. I punched the wall in anger. "RRGH! We should have never done this! Why couldn't we have just gone to the museum like everyone else?"

"Well we can still go back, right? I mean all we gotta do is find Ginger again, and…"

"And what?" I asked, looking at Jimmy. "Politely ask her to send us back? Even _if _she's alive, what are the chances of her actually knowing the spell?"

Just then, we heard a creak in the floorboards. We looked around for the culprit of the noise, but as we were, someone jumped down from the roof and tackled me to the ground. When he pinned me to the ground, he raised his knives to my throat and I managed to get a better look at him. It was my undead friend, Neil… and he looked terrible.

Instead of his usual buzz-cut, he had long hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in ages. His flesh was cut and torn in several places, including his right eye, which had been pulled out by something, leaving an empty socket. His armor was a lot like his skin, but instead of his assassin armor, he wore a soldier's uniform.

"Greek or Myria?" He asked me. "GREEK OR MYRIA?"

"Neil! Wait!" I shouted. "It's me! Joanna!"

Neil stared at me with amazement. "Queen Nightingale? Is that you?"

"Um, no sh&t? Who'd you think I was?"

"But… that's impossible. You're supposed to be dead."

X

Jimmy

Neil told us everything that happened. Apparently, because of our interference, Atlas didn't underestimate the demigods, so he sent wave after wave at them, and eventually all five of them died.

This led to the fall of camp half blood, and soon Olympus itself. Earth fell into total chaos as war broke out between them and the titans, but by the September sixteenth 2011, they had lost the war, and extermination was inevitable.

The people of Myria decided to close the portals to their world when they discovered this, but the titans were able to slip through. Soon they were able to send the rest of their armies, and have taken most of New Rome. They would have been able to hold the line, but Chronos's titan form alone destroyed every minor monster in the region, including wizards and witches. Now they're stuck in a war that Neil is afraid they can't win, and it's only getting worse.

That's when I told Neil about our involvement in all this. I couldn't bear to keep it from him, but when I mentioned it…

"YOU BASTARD!" He cried out, strangling me. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU"VE DONE? YOU'VE KILLED US ALL!"

"Neil! Stop!" Joanna said, restraining him. "We know we screwed up, but we need to get back to 2007 and stop this from ever happening."

Neil looked at Joanna for a second with dis-belief. "And how're you gonna do that? Everything we have with that technology's been either lost or destroyed. Unless…" Neil thought to himself for a minute, and then snapped his fingers. "Of course! There's a prototype Wand 2.0 in the Student Security labs in West Coast Academy. It's an artificial magic wand that'll grant the user three wishes. If we can get there without alerting the titans, you may be able to go back to 2007."

X

Unfortunately, we had to sneak past the large, battle-ready hordes of Greek monsters. It was a little hard considering I wasn't exactly a ninja, but Neil was able to cover up for my mistakes. We stole a boat in order to get to West Coast. It was located on an island off the coast of New Rome. There used to be a ferry to take people to and from, but it was nothing but floating debris now.

Eventually, we made it to West Coast Academy, our high school… or what was left of it. Instead of the gorgeous island it used to be on, it was reduced to a pile of rubble on top of a barren rock. The harbor town that used to stand at the foot looked like it was burned to the ground along with most of the docks that stood there. Along with the debris, there were large, purple flags with a symbol of a scythe in the middle on top of one of the ruined buildings.

"This island's been deserted for a year." Neil said, steering the boat. "I doubt there's anyone here."

We pulled up on the coast next to a broken dock. We exited the boat and walked up the trail to get to the main school, from there we would be able to access the elevator to reach the Student Security Headquarters.

The elevator was located in the basement of the school, which was luckily untouched by the war, although there were signs of someone using it as a base of operations. I thought it was the Greeks, but then I saw a green flag with a black skull, the symbol of the Undead Revolutionary Front, once protestors for undead equal rights, now made into militia. It looked as if they had left some time ago, as Neil had said.

Soon we found the elevator. We pressed a button and it opened as if it was almost new.

"Okay, get to the wand." Neil said, drawing his knives. "I'll stay here and cover your path."

"Okay, thanks Neil." I said as I walked into the elevator.

"Wait!" Neil said as the door almost closed. He put his hand in the door to stop it and it opened again. "The skeleton warriors Atlas summons will be a hassle, but this will help." Neil took out one of his throwing kunai and placed it in my hand. "Throw it at their feet when they're grouped together. Whatever you do, _do not _stand within ten feet of the blast."

I nodded. "Got it."

"Listen," Neil said. "Atlas will most likely try and send something worse after you when you kill the skeletons, but if you are dead-set on fixing the past, then I believe in the both of you." He stepped out of the doorway.

He ran back up the stairs as the doors closed. The elevator moved down as the music to, "Danger Zone" played. I smiled because I haven't heard this song in a while. I swayed my hips to it and hummed along.

"Seriously?" Joanna asked. I stopped and looked at her. "There's a war going on and you're dancing to Kenny Logins?"

"What can I say? I love this song." I said.

Joanna rolled her eyes.

The elevator stopped.

"Okay, this should be the lab." I said. "Let's get the wand and…"

As soon as the door opened, my eyes as well as Joanna's widened. The room contained at least twenty Greek monsters each with battle armor and celestial bronze weapons ranging from swords and shields to assault rifles, looting the lab.

There were giants, demi-gods, snake people (I forgot their names), and one large cat/scorpion creature. This really wouldn't have been so bad if not for the fact that they immediately saw us as we entered.

The Greek monsters stood up and pointed their weapons at us.

"You take ten, I'll take ten?" I asked Joanna.

"Screw you, I'll take eleven." She said.

"Whatever."

I slapped the tip of a demi-god's spear down. It flipped over, hitting the demi-god in the chin, and then I grabbed it and stabbed him in his chest. As I did, Joanna jumped over me, taking out her scythe, and tackled a giant to the ground.

After that, all hell broke loose.

Everyone with a gun shot at us while the ones with melee weapons charged us, which was a very bad idea. After I killed the demi-god, I took out the spear and whipped it around, hitting two snake people in their heads, knocking them down. After that, I threw the spear into the head of a giant trying to shoot me with a chain gun. He turned into dust as he hit the ground.

I was about to finish off the two snake people when the cat/scorpion tackled me to the ground. It gnashed its teeth at me and tried to stab me with its tail. After one strike, I crushed its arms with a squeeze. It yelped and I was able to get up. I grabbed its tail and spun it around, impaling it on a large spike connected to a machine nearby. It fell limp.

I looked back at the two snake people as they charged… er… slither-charged toward me. I ran at them, pushed them out of the way making them fall to the ground again, jumped into the air, and dive-kicked another demi-god, sending him to the ground. I slammed his head onto the ground and he was knocked out.

I looked over at Joanna, who was in the middle of punching a snake person in the face. As it hit the ground, another ogre, the last, smashed a club down where Joanna was. She dodged and cut the club in half with her scythe right before cutting his stomach. I would tell you more, but I was interrupted.

A demi-god shot at me with an UZI. I was caught off guard as the bullets hit me. I grabbed a shield that was dropped by another monster, ducked under the spray, and threw it like a Frisbee at him, hitting him in the head. He fall to the ground, unconscious.

The snake people came at me again. I punched them in their heads and sent them flying across the room, making them hit the wall behind them.

As the other monsters came at me, I picked up the UZI the demi-god was holding and opened fire. The monsters turned to dust one by one as the bullets hit them. Joanna finished with another monster by the time I was finished as she snapped a snake person's neck.

She walked to me as I tossed the spent gun away. Just then, we heard a clatter of metal. We turned to see the two snake men pointing their weapons at us… or at least trying to. They were dazed probably from all those blows to the head. A moment later, they fell to the ground. Joanna and I let out a sigh of relief.

Joanna looked at me. "Grab the wand and let's go."

X

We managed to find the wand and a spell book that came with it. The book wasn't as big as the original volumes, but it had a decent amount of spells within the pages. After looking through the index, I finally found the time travel spell. I spoke the incantation, and a yellow, transparent clock appeared around Joanna and I. After the clock worked its magic, we found ourselves back in Camp Half Blood in the middle of the big house.

"Yes!" I cried out. "We made it! We…"

That's when I noticed Mr. D sitting on a couch drinking Diet Coke out of a wineglass. He had spilled his drink as we appeared, ruining his nice suit.

"Oh… um… hi." I said, waving.

"What in Hades do you think you're doing?" Dionysus asked, trying to wipe the stain off his suit jacket. "You made me ruin a perfectly good suit!"

"Sir, listen, we don't have much time!" Joanna said, standing in front of him. "We need to know where Zoe and her party are. We have to warn them-"

"They just left for Manhattan an hour ago." He said, interrupting her. "What's this all about?"

"Sir, we need to be on that quest, lives are at stake!" I interjected.

Dionysus laughed. "Oh, that's rich. You two sound like Mr. Johnson. He wanted to go on this quest too, and…" His face went from happy to annoyed in a second. "He's following him, isn't he?"

"Yeah."

Dionysus groaned. "Why does he always do this? Every single quest, he has to go along. I mean his friend, Anabell is there, but even so. I have to deal with this."

"Wait." I said. "Before you go, we need to talk to him. Is there a…"

"Oh yeah." He said as he tossed me a Drachma. "Iris message. There's a fountain over there." He said, pointing me to a fountain. "Now if you'll excuse me."

He disappeared in a purple mist, which smelled like grapes. When the mist vanished, Joanna and I walked over to the Iris fountain and I tossed the coin in, which disappeared in the mist.

"Um… Percy Jackson?" I asked. I just remembered I had no idea how to work the fountain.

"Percy Jackson, por favor?"

No response.

"Please? It's my first time. Can't you just…"

Suddenly, an image appeared out of the mist. The face of a boy with black hair riding a Pegasus appeared.

"Percy!" I shouted.

He was so startled, he nearly fall off. "What the? Jimmy? Joanna? What are you…"

"Listen," I interrupted, "don't ask us how we know this, but at some point in the quest you're on, you will fail. If we come with you, we can help you succeed."

I realized how rushed that sounded, but then again, I was trying to get to Percy as fast as possible.

Percy looked at me like I was crazy. "What?"

"Okay, where are you right now?" Joanna asked.

"Um… Ground Zero, but…"

"Great!" I cried out. "Meet us somewhere close by."

"Well, there's an elementary school, but…"

"Great, elementary school next to Ground Zero, got it."

"Wait! What's going on? How do you know we're going to fail?" Percy asked.

"I can't tell you, you'll just have to trust me. Meet me at the elementary school."

"Well how do I know I can trust you?"

"Are you near the Empire State building?"

"I'm landing now, actually."

Joanna looked at her watch. "Three… two… one."

Suddenly, Percy was entangled in vines and the vision faded.

X

We used the second spell on the wand to teleport to Ground Zero. Immediately after, we looked for and found the elementary school Percy was talking about.

We stood in front of it, waiting for him. He must have been talking with Dionysus still. We would have stayed out there, and god I wish we did, but then Joanna sensed something.

"That's weird." She said, looking at the school.

"What?" I asked.

"It's the beginning of the day, right? So the school should be filled with kids."

"Yeah?"

"That's the thing. I'm sensing no heart beats in there."

I raised an eyebrow and looked at the school. I shook my head.

"It's probably nothing. Maybe you just haven't fed in a while."

"Y-yeah… maybe." She said, still looking at the school. "I… I'm sorry, I need to check this out."

Joanna began walking toward the school.

"Okay." I said. "I'll call you when he's here."

X

Joanna

I opened the door to the school and I instantly became aware of the situation. There were no children or teachers here, and it was eight AM. Something was definitely wrong.

I walked the hallway, looking for any signs of life. Suddenly, I saw it. A red trail on the ground leading to a room nearby. It was blood.

I took out my scythe and walked to the room. I reached the door and extended my hand to open it. I gripped the knob and turned it. As soon as I opened the door, I was greeted by stains of blood that filled the entire room.

Everywhere I turned, there was blood. It was either dripped onto the floor, or splattered onto the wall.

My eyes widened as I backed out of the room, scared. That's a first… I almost never get scared, but the blood was nothing compared to what I heard next.

"Ring around the rosie… pocket full of posies… ashes… ashes… we all fall down."

The one singing the song sounded like a little girl nearby, also the voice sounded… familiar. I don't know why, but I felt like I've heard this voice before.

"Ring around the rosie… pocket full of posies… ashes… ashes… we all fall down."

I continued down the hallway with my scythe pointed in front of me. I looked around, nervous.

"Show yourself, you coward!" I shouted.

Giggling.

"Ring around the rosie… pocket full of posies…"

A figure came around the corner. It was too far away to make out, but it looked like… a little girl? Wait… not a little girl! I remembered! I knew who she was!

"… ashes… ashes… we all fall down."

The girl faced me as she came out from the shadows. She had green hair, purple eyes, and she was wearing a nun uniform which was somehow in perfect condition. Everything about this girl cried out 'creepy,' but the worst part was her smile. Her smile was like something out of a creepy pasta picture on Deviant Art, the ones with the large smile and the small eyes, only it wasn't her eyes that were small, but her pupils.

The girl cocked her head as she spoke. "Hello… do you wanna play with me?"

My eyes widened. "Chaos?"

The last thing I saw was her lunging at me, and her jaw unhinging like a snake.

**Yeah, that's right. I waited this long to bring her in. Sorry about that… anyway, if you're wondering what monster she is, you'll have to read the next chapter. Also, this is before she became an angeloid. Again, 2007.**


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